Guitar of the week #50 - ESP E-II Eclipse

This is what happens when a guitar company does a Les Paul copy correctly but at the same time makes it their own.

The ESP E-II Eclipse is not cheap. However, it pretty much has everything a Gibson Les Paul does and is a real-deal Japan import. This is not an LTD brand guitar. This is a true made-in-Japan ESP, and the price tag reflects that.

So what do you get for the cash you put down for this axe? Extra jumbo fret wire, a thin U-shape neck (with set-neck construction,) Gotoh locking tuners, Gotoh bridge and tailpiece a pair of Seymour Duncan pickups (SH-1 and SH-4)... but all those goodies don't accurately describe what playing a real ESP is like.

If I were to pick one word to describe a real-deal ESP from Japan, it would be solid. Japan just knows how to build an electric very well. The E-II Eclipse will exhibit absolutely none of the typical problems a Gibson Les Paul would. The Eclipse is built to last, and moreover built to be played. This is not a guitar that's meant to sit in a case and stay pretty forever. Rather, it's meant to be played day after day, night after night and keep coming back for more.

In other words, this is one of the very few guitars with a high price tag where I can say yes, you are getting what you pay for. The Eclipse is a guitar you can depend on whether for studio or stage use or both.

In the end, if you have the money to spend on a high-end electric, you basically can't go wrong with a Japan-made ESP.

Published 2016 Mar 23